an inviting refusal

24 And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. 25 But immediately a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." 29 And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone. Mark 7:24-30

The story of the Syrophoenician woman represents a fascinating echo of the story of the faith of the centurion (Luke 7:1-10). Both are “long-distance” miracles. Both involve the faith of a Gentile.

Once again it seems that Jesus has fled the draining presence of the crowd to get some rest. But once again he discovers that even for him, this is an impossibility. A desperate woman barges into the silence that surrounds the exhausted Jesus. Perhaps she had heard of his miraculous power from a group of her countrymen who had been with Jesus earlier (3:8). She frantically falls at his feet, begging for a miracle.

Rabbis were not supposed to speak to women in public, much less Gentile women. But Jesus engages the worried woman in an unforgettable conversation. At first his response sounds like a refusal. In fact, however, it was an invitation for her to hear Jesus' heart.

To us, Jesus' reply sounds harsh. Is he really calling her a “dog"? After all, dogs are looked on as unclean animals in Judaism (Leviticus 11:27). But Jesus does not use the word for stray dogs. He uses the diminutive term for “little dogs” or perhaps “pet dogs.” I don't think that the scene he is painting for the woman is a Jewish scene, but a thoroughly Hellenistic one. In her world it was common to keep small pet dogs. The image of the children throwing scraps of bread to their pets underneath the table does not offend her in the least. In fact, it has quite the opposite effect. Her charming but stubborn response appears to delight Jesus. It represents an imaginative expression of her faith in him. In the give-and-take of ordinary human conversation, Jesus is enchanted by the faith and wit of this extraordinary woman.

When she returned home, she sensed that the dark demonic cloud was gone. Her little girl was lying quietly in bed, no more convulsions, no more self-destructive behavior. Her home and her family would never be the same, and all this represented a crumb that had just fallen from the table! —Michael Card michaelcard.com

seeking: Lord, how has this story drawn me closer to your heart? How has it strengthened my faith in you?

responding: Does Jesus' attempt to reach out to someone in the language of a different culture represent a challenge and perhaps even a pattern for me? • How does it make me feel when I read that Jesus was delighted by someone? Have I ever realized that he delights in me?

Lord, sometimes all I can do is fall at your feet and beg for crumbs. Forgive me for my failure to know you better. Forgive me for forgetting your standing invitation to the banquet you have prepared and the special place at your table, just for me. Forgive me for believing that you are unapproachable—after all you have done to pursue me.

following: Faith in Jesus makes for miraculous change.

our journey